Syllables
by MoreThanSimplyWords
Summary: "He tries not to watch this fascinating form of dance – the hair swinging just below her chin and the way she occasionally calls his attention to something on the road. He's realizing he's not as composed as he thought." Kiryu/Saki.


**A/N: This show is too cute, and I was going through withdrawal after it ended, which resulted in this. Because there's no way Kiryu doesn't try to process everything surrounding him - especially Saki.**

* * *

He noticed her long before she became friends with Fujimiya. Though he didn't remember her right away, it wasn't long before something about the tiny girl's mannerisms struck something in his memory. _She's not any different._ A sigh escaped his lips, surprising him, but he brushed it off. He hadn't been planning on doing anything this time around.

Ignoring her isn't easy after she jumps into the circle he's always dragged into. He doesn't breathe a word about elementary school. She doesn't pay him much notice now, and telling her wouldn't make a different. At best, it would set up a sense of obligation. Maybe she would feel obligated to 'become friends' – or maybe just simply remember him. Though maybe, he thinks as he looks at her, she wouldn't care at all.

He doesn't tell her his name, even when she asks, but he finds his eyes wandering to her more often than he'd like to admit.

He keeps watching. During lunch, he rests his head on his arms and gazes through half-lidded eyes. It's just for a few minutes every day, but it's enough. He starts to see her, not as the forgetful girl that everyone knows her as, but as something else.

It strikes him one afternoon, as he notices her grasping a friend's hand with a little hop. She is more than everyone gives her credit for. She tries her best with what she has, not trying to change herself and her forgetful, uncaring ways. What appear to be flaws have become what she's embraced. She's honest, and he respects her for that. He's always considered himself an honest person. It's what people know him for, regardless of the reputation it assigns him. Scary, mean, unapproachable – it doesn't matter to him, as long as he's honest. He doesn't believe in pretenses and Yamagishi, for all her absentminded ways, doesn't have any. Her method of honesty, though, is foreign and it baffles him. At first he thinks it's dumb, but the more he watches the more interested he becomes.

He keeps observing, keeps waiting, until he figures out the main difference in their honesty.

He gives the facts – solid advice based on what he sees. It's unbiased, unattached. She gives herself. She doesn't dance around her faults or flaunt her strong points. She does everything in her power to help others, even at her own expense. She doesn't change for a crowd that is unmerciful in their expectations. _Remember, remember, remember._ It's a repetition that never goes away. An image of her tear-stained face in elementary school flashes through his mind, and while he's still amazed that she hasn't made an effort to change, he's glad. Across the room, he hears her say "I forgot," and he almost smiles.

He notices another change, too. One just as foreign stirring inside him, making him aware of everything concerning her. The light, sweet smell that brushes the air when she leans too close, the way she draws out some syllables and shortens others. The slight tilting of her head when she speaks and how, when she looks up at him with lazy eyes, he finds it hard to swallow.

He's beginning to think that he's not as composed as he thought.

* * *

"Kiryu-kun," She draws his name out as he walks down the hall. "Kiryu-kun." There's a tug at his sleeve. The tips of her fingers graze his arm before latching onto the fabric. "Are you leaving now?"

He nods.

"Kaori-chan and Hase-kun are studying math today, and I don't have anybody to walk home with. Come with me."

"You can't walk by yourself?"

"It's boring."

"Fine, fine."

She walks slightly ahead of him, swinging her feet in lazy, elongated steps. He tries not to watch this fascinating form of dance – the hair swinging just below her chin and the way she occasionally calls his attention to something on the road. _Kiryu-kun._ She draws his name out as she takes three short steps. "Kiryu-kun. Why don't you call me by my first name?"

"Huh?"

"Yamagishi is so long I barely remember it sometimes."

"That's not surprising."

"Besides, Saki sounds cuter, doesn't it?"

"You have no reservations." He raises his fist to bump her lightly on the head.

"But…" She doesn't get the rest out. Mid-turn, her foot spins out from the rest of her body. He reaches out and grabs her arm, pulling her back upright. She bumps lightly into his side before steadying.

He sighs. "You really can't walk by yourself."

"That's why I have you, right?"

"I'm not going to catch you all the time. You have to be more careful."

She just grins at him in return.

When they part ways, he watches her retreating back. After a few steps, she turns back around, lifting a hand high into the air. He turns away from her quickly.

He's losing his head.

* * *

From across the rooftop Fujimiya and Hase are enveloped in their usual glowing conversation that only allows for the two of them. Saki – _Yamagishi_ – is eating with her other friends, leaving him sitting off to the side and trying to ignore the sappy conversation next to him. He thinks about going back down to the classroom. She'll be there, after all.

He swallows and focuses on the conversation next to him. Fujimiya says something that leaves Hase's face completely red. _So easy to read._

The door bangs open and a small figure trips through the door. Yamagishi looks at the two still engrossed in conversation, both of their cheeks flushed now. She makes her way towards him. "Oh, you're up here, Kiryu-kun."

He nods.

"They're talking like that again, huh? Their faces seem to turn red a lot these days."

"Yeah. I thought you were eating lunch in the classroom."

"I was, but I finished early and decided to come up here." She looked over to Fujimiya and Hase again. "I don't think I should interrupt them right now, though. You'll just have to talk to me instead." She leans close to his face. "You could at least look happy to see me."

He's not sentimental, but he longs to feel the sound of her name on his tongue. _Saki. Sa-ki. S-a-k-i._ It's a rhythm in his head he can't quite ever shake.

He's realized that he's not as composed as he once thought. He just has a really good poker face.

* * *

In an instant, he loses it. He barely manages to turn his back before the itching, burning sensation crawls its way up his neck and onto his cheeks.

"_You could be my husband!"_

Days later, the words still make him hold his breath. He's getting better at composing himself. _She doesn't know what she's talking about. She's just being herself. She's probably forgotten anyway._

When he sees her at school, she stares for a moment before fleeing in the opposite direction. For a moment, he almost goes after her.

"_You could be my husband!"_

His collar feels too tight and he can feel Hase looking at him. He turns away. "It's time for class."

* * *

He doesn't do well with crying people, and this is the second girl he's had to deal with today.

He's not going to admit that he's spent just as much time thinking about it. He's not going to admit that he's hard a harder time falling asleep lately – something he's never experienced. And he's definitely not going to admit he was scared that she'd take it all back. But he can admit one thing. There's something he's learned from watching her, though he wouldn't be so quick to say it out loud: She gives every part of herself. Watching her stirs something inside of him and it makes him want to give something back.

"I'm sorry." He hopes it's enough for now.

She stops crying immediately. "It's weird when you suddenly apologize."

"When I think I'm wrong, I apologize."

He agrees to let her depend on him, and the knowledge that this may be more than he signed up for crosses his mind. There's no telling for how long she means; how seriously she'll take it. _As long as it takes, _he realizes. He focuses on controlling his neutral expression, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Her face transforms into a brilliant smile, though her red eyes betray the tears that came moments before. He looks away again, scratching under his collar.

"I'll take care of this." He picks up the bag she dropped.

"Kiryu-kun…" She looks up at him. "I'll help you with that."

"You should go back up. They're probably waiting for you." He turns his back, walking down the stairs.

"W-wait! Shogo-kun!" He turns around quickly, just as Yamagishi lets out a gasp.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to call you that! It's just that I've been thinking about your first name a lot and about how, maybe, someday, I'd call you that. I wasn't planning to do it now, I wasn't!"

"Calm down." He taps her on the head, letting his fingers slide slowly off the strands of her hair.

"Are you mad again?"

"Dork. I don't get mad easily. You should know that by now. Pay attention sometimes." He sighs. "Besides, I don't care either way. If you're going to depend on me so much, I might as well get used to it."

"Ah, okay!" She grins. "You can call me Saki as well! I'm going back up to the roof. Kaori-chan and the others are probably wondering where I am."

"I thought you were going to help me with this."

She halts, turning around slowly. "Oh. I forgot about that. You can take care of it, right?"

"You should have just gone up when I told you to." He shakes his head.

"Thanks, Shogo-kun!"

He doesn't say it right away. He calmly takes care of the trash and glances around. He's alone, but he barely breathes the words across the crisp, gray air. "Saki. Sa-ki."

He shakes his head and walks toward the stairs.


End file.
